BBYO Launches $90 Million Campaign with $30 Million of Support

Gifts totaling $28.8 million from two long-time funders lead effort for BBYO to expand its capacity and double its growth rate over the next five years

WASHINGTON, DC— BBYO is pleased to announce it has received an unprecedented $28.8 million in support from two long-time funders toward its newly launched $90 million five-year “This Moment in Time” campaign. The campaign will enable BBYO to double its annual growth rate, with the goal of having 27,000 members annually by the end of the 2022 school year. BBYO will also expand its workforce, increase summer program offerings, better support its volunteer advisors, and grow its endowment. Ultimately, BBYO’s compelling year-round experiences will be able to reach approximately 60% of the accessible Jewish teen audience in North America, totaling 110,000 teens annually.

“BBYO is a proven leader in engaging and inspiring Jewish teens through meaningful, dynamic learning experiences,” said Al Levitt, President and Board Chair of the Jim Joseph Foundation.

 Chip Edelsberg, Executive Director of the Jim Joseph Foundation added, “By supporting staff at the leadership level, BBYO has strategically and diligently created a roadmap to structure and deepen these learning experiences, and to increase the number of teens participating in them. The Foundation is pleased to support the launch of this ambitious plan.”

The two initial gifts, provided by the Jim Joseph Foundation and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, came after a six-month capacity building study by Wellspring Consulting that focused on ways in which BBYO can build its infrastructure to support and accelerate its growth. The resulting five-year plan outlines key initiatives to accomplish those goals and the financial resources needed to make it happen.

“Our research included more than 3,900 data points and concluded that we are having a deep impact on our members,” said Matthew Grossman, BBYO’s Chief Executive Officer. “Rather than make major shifts to strategy, we were advised to scale our operation so that many more teens can experience all that we have to offer. We are grateful for these significant investments, which will help position us for even greater global reach and impact on Jewish teens.”

 A 2011 Impact Study showed BBYO’s significant long-term impact on the ways in which its alumni gravitate toward leadership positions, build community and participate in Jewish life. These alumni have been key partners in BBYO’s growth in recent years and will be asked to join with some of the Jewish community’s leading philanthropists in helping BBYO reach its $90 million campaign goal.

“Time and again, we have seen BBYO deliver powerful Jewish and Israel experiences to a larger and larger audience of teens,” said Stacy Schusterman, co-chair of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. “We believe that BBYO is uniquely positioned to ensure that the Jewish future is vibrant, and we encourage others to join BBYO’s current donors to help realize BBYO’s potential to connect Jewish teens to being Jewish leaders and to Israel.”

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About BBYO
BBYO is the Jewish community’s largest and fastest growing pluralistic platform for reaching and inspiring Jewish teens during the school-year with 600 teen-led local chapters and over 100 weekend retreats along with a plethora of summer experiences including Israel visits, travel programs and leadership camps. For more than 90 years, BBYO‘s leadership programs, the Aleph Zadik Aleph (AZA, high school fraternity) and the B’nai B’rith Girls (BBG, high school sorority) have been providing exceptional programs and identity enrichment experiences, shaping the confidence and character of more than 400,000 alumni who are among the most prominent figures in business, politics, academia, the arts and Jewish communal life.

Donate to BBYO today and make an investment in the lives of today’s Jewish teens, and in Jewish continuity, values and traditions.

 For more information on BBYO, please visit bbyo.org or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.